Days of the Pheonix
by Gloryscream
Summary: Illegally operating muant experimentation groups are exposed as their subjects rapidly disappear. AU. Morlocks don't exist,Evan never left, Evteiro.


The Days of the Phoenix  
  
Chapter One: Buried Myself Alive  
  
Cold. Yes. Good. Focus on something. Get a jacket. Jackets are good. They keep you warm when it snows.  
  
Evan paused his eternal monologue to throw the fridge door open. He winced as it clashed into the counter. Little more gentle next time, hmm? Good. He reached in and pulled out a carton of milk.  
  
"Drink all that and your ass is mud, Pincushion," Marissa said. She poked him on one shoulder.  
  
"There's more," Evan muttered defensively.  
  
"Ye-ep." She closed the fridge door for him and reached into the cupboard above to get granola.  
  
New girls suck, Evan decided. Not that he was particularly fond of the female species on the whole, but Marissa was supremely annoying. Brown hair, plain face. Nothing extraordinary about her - except her hands. Long-fingered, graceful. Long nails. Long enough to claw you to death.  
  
Her mutation was somewhat like Rogue's: she absorbed people's genetic signatures, but not memories and not appearances. If she absorbed a regular human, they would be unaffected, but any DNA testing done on her would reveal that she was human. She could only hold one power at a time, and as long as she wanted, without hurting whoever's powers she held. Rogue didn't affect her - unless she wanted to be affected.  
  
Marissa had appeared on the mansion's doorsteps one day about a week ago wearing a filthy dress. It was ripped, muddy, smelly, and she was in about the same state. She had the look of somebody well-fed and slightly chubby who'd lost a lot of weight over a short span of time. She'd stared blankly at Kurt before reaching out and touching his face, then 'porting into the Cerebro room and tapping Xavier's bald head.  
  
Two hours later, Professor X announced the arrival of a new full-fledged X- Men member. Marissa De Luna. Marissa had made it clear that she had come from a situation much like Logan's and did not want to talk about it, so please shut the hell up.  
  
Evan shook himself out of his reverie and poured some milk into a tall glass and gulped it all down. He repeated the process. Marissa was staring blankly at the back of a cereal box.  
  
Bampf!  
  
"Hullo, Kurt," Marissa mumbled. He grinned in response, and pulled open the fridge.  
  
"Mein Gott, we have nothing to eat!"  
  
"Your fault," Kitty said, phasing through the door.  
  
"Not really."  
  
"Yes really. Look, there's some eggs here. And more milk. There's, like, always milk here. Um...butter. I bet there's bread. And some strawberry jam," Kitty continued, plucking the cereal box from the table. "I'm having cereal."  
  
"Good to know," Marissa said, and tapped Kurt's cheek. "Lemme borrow your powers? I'll give 'em back after I get to school, promise."  
  
Kurt looked doubtful. "I don't know..."  
  
Marissa scowled. "Are you saying you don't trust me?"  
  
"No! I'm just used to being able to 'port anywhere I want!"  
  
"Just trust me," she said and then was gone.  
  
"I'm, like, gonna talk to the Prof about her," Kitty said, annoyed. "That's just creepy."  
  
"Look at it this way," Evan told Kurt, a merry grin on his face, "Now you're not blue and fuzzy. She is." He checked his watch. "Okay, I'm late. Must be going. See ya."  
  
He dashed out the Institute's door and ran down to the end of the street, waiting patiently. Normally, he would have told Pietro to go to hell, but it was too icy to board anyway so why waste perfectly good time in a car with people he lived with anyway when he could be enjoying...being with somebody as flexible as Pietro?  
  
There was a silver blur, and then Evan found himself standing there, half naked. "Gimme my shirt back, numbshit," he said, only half serious.  
  
Pietro paused. "But it smells like you," he murmured. He brought the shirt to his nose and breathed in deeply. "Mmm..."  
  
"Yes, but I'm freezing my ass off now."  
  
Eyebrow quirk. "Let me warm you up."  
  
"Thought you'd never ask." Pietro scooped Evan into his arms and sped down the street. Evan wormed his way more securely into the other boy's arms, trying to warm himself up. The wind was icy cold. Suddenly, they stopped. Evan found himself on his feet again and was being propelled into a ground- level classroom that they both knew would be empty until third period.  
  
Pietro's arms tightened around him and he leaned forward. Evan closed his eyes as their lips met and he was suddenly crushed against that slender body while their mouths moved in a delicate dance.  
  
They went on like that, kissing each other hungrily, until Pietro broke away and clasped Evan's hands in his. Evan tilted his head to the side, letting the silver-haired mutant assail the crook between shoulder and neck more easily.  
  
Soft gasps and sighs filled the room. They were oh so careful to be quiet.  
  
"Don't stop," Evan hissed through clenched teeth, trying to hold back louder noises.  
  
"Wasn't gonna," Pietro answered. "Missed you."  
  
"Me to-ah!"  
  
~~~  
  
Kurt leaned back in his seat, balancing a pencil on the bridge of his nose.  
  
"Mr. Wagner," the teacher said sharply. "I know you think yourself superior to all of us mere humans due to your...mutation, but could you at least pretend to pay attention to class?"  
  
"Sorry, Ms. Carr," he said sheepishly. Half the class glared at him. A month ago, they would have laughed. When they thought he was normal. Now he was just another mutie that their parents made them go to school with. He hated it.  
  
More and more these days, it was becoming difficult to not just throw his 'watch' away and join the Brotherhood - or even Magneto. Sometimes he even regretted fighting on Asteroid M instead of sticking with the other side.  
  
But he wondered. Was war really the right thing? War between 'normals' and mutants? He suffered the pain of being different more so than most other mutants. They could blend in. He couldn't. And it hurt when people saw his real face and turned their noses up at him.  
  
Sometimes the hate piled up so much inside of him there was nothing to do. He just sat there and sobbed. Kurt wondered why he hid it. He knew the others had different ways of coping - Logan got really, really drunk on a basis regular enough to kill any normal human being; Kitty acted like nothing was wrong; Scott put in more hours training than there were in any given day; and Evan spent virtually no time in the mansion. There was a time when Kurt was confused as to those random disappearances, but he wasn't so naive anymore. It had made him uncomfortable at first - his parents had always taught him to associate homosexuals with child molesters, but he'd sat back and thought that if it helped both Evan and Pietro to be happy people, if they were better people for their relationship, then...well, it was between them and their God.  
  
The bell rang, and Kurt shook himself out of his musings enough to get his books together before heading to his locker.  
  
~~~  
  
Evan slammed his locker shut. He felt better every time he did that.  
  
"You know, one of these days, you're going to break that thing," Pietro said. Evan turned around.  
  
"You know, it's really funny how I just don't give a damn anymore," he said brightly.  
  
"Sooo...leave the Dork Palace."  
  
"Nah. There's better food at the Institute."  
  
"But there's better entertainment at the manor," Pietro insisted.  
  
"Just drop it," Evan snapped. "I'm really not in the mood."  
  
"Why? What happened? Do I need to kick the shit out of somebody?" Evan almost laughed. Pietro could be almost adorably overprotective at times.  
  
"Just stupid fucktards teaching here. You know. Same old, same old. I get an A on my English test, oh! I must have used my powers. Really. There is no other explanation."  
  
Pietro raised an eyebrow. "Tell me how a self-replicating skeleton assists in the acquiring process of good grades."  
  
"I have no fucking clue."  
  
"Hm. Well. What news of the varsity team? Are they letting you back on yet?"  
  
"Coach is still running through miles of red tape. He says it's looking a little better. He wants me DH'ing for the varsity baseball team this spring, though."  
  
"Why? Jesus Christ."  
  
"I guess to work on my speed. I don't know. He said batting practice might improve my game."  
  
"Why not fielding?"  
  
"Because Duncan My-Shit-Don't-Stink Matthews is center field, and his loser buddies have snagged every other position except pitcher, catcher, and third base. The only other three I suck at."  
  
"Of course. Because they want to avoid looking like morons at third base. I'd love to see Matthews play a decent game at third, much less center."  
  
Evan shrugged. "You win some, you lose some."  
  
"I guess. Are you staying here for lunch?"  
  
"Yeah. Well, no, we're going back to the Institute to train." Pietro snorted.  
  
"Boring."  
  
"Useful," Evan corrected. "It helps our image of being a crime-fighting force." He paused. "I just realized how incredibly lame that sounds."  
  
"Catch ya later, then," Pietro said. "I got places to be, people to terrorize, you know."  
  
Evan leaned in for a brief kiss. "Bye."  
  
Whoosh. And that was that. Evan spun around and kicked his locker. Hm. Locker kicking felt even better than locker slamming. He did it again and was amazed at how much it cleared his head.  
  
Whistling, he headed off to Kurt's locker. From a distance, Evan noticed a disappointed look on his friend's face. He slung an arm around Kurt's shoulders and grinned winningly. "What's up?" he said cheerfully.  
  
"Bad class," Kurt said tonelessly.  
  
"Ah. What went wrong?"  
  
"Carr's a bitch."  
  
"I see. Are you only speaking monosyllabically now?"  
  
"Yep."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Life sucks."  
  
"Well, duh."  
  
"Evan?"  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"Shut up."  
  
Evan leaned back, hurt. "Fine. You wanna be an ass, that's your problem. Yeah, I know life sucks. It sucks in the hugest possible way. But deal. Don't take it out on the people trying to help you." As he stomped off, Kurt's shoulders slumped.  
  
~~~  
  
Pietro was poking at something. Lance gave him a funny look. "What the hell is that?"  
  
"I have no idea. I think it's dead, though."  
  
"It looks kinda like a girl."  
  
"I think it is. Really skinny, though."  
  
"Oh, look who's talking," Lance said, scoffing. "Let's get her inside, anyway. I think a snowstorm's headed over here, and if she's alive, she won't survive a storm."  
  
"So we have to take care of her?"  
  
"She might be a mutant."  
  
"She probably isn't," Pietro argued. "We barely have enough food for the five of us, much less one more."  
  
"Come on. You and I were both street kids once. Look at her, she's been on the streets a long time. You can tell."  
  
Pietro examined her more closely. Her hair, straight and black, was chopped off rudely right above the ears. Her skin was grimy and covered in various cuts and bruises. Her fingernails were scraggly and her jeans had holes all over the place. They were covered in mud and slush and other less wastes. Her shirt was little more than rags pieced together with numerous safety pins, also in disrepair. She wore a pair of cheap black boots, probably stolen from a Payless, because they were the cleanest and newest-looking item on her emaciated body.  
  
He nodded slowly. "You're right. Let's get her inside before she freezes to death." Together they hoisted her up and carried her into the living room, and set her down on the couch. Lance put his hand below her nose and then shrugged.  
  
"She's breathing."  
  
"I'm going to try to wake her up," Pietro decided. "Get me some cold water." Lance left the room briefly and returned with a bowl of icy water. The shorter mutant unceremoniously dumped it over the girl's body. She awoke with violent shivers and a yelp.  
  
She reached up and grabbed Pietro by his shirt. "Where am I?" she screamed hoarsely. The water on her skin lifted up above her head, forming a vaguely circular shape, suspended.  
  
"You're a mutant," Lance said dumbly.  
  
"So," she hissed, giving Pietro another shake. "Where am I!?"  
  
"You're in the Bayville Boarding House," he answered, pulling himself free and examining the mud left by her hands on his shirt. After deciding the damage to his clothes was both minimal and reversible, he gave her a little smirk. "We're the Brotherhood of Mutants."  
  
Something like relief crossed her face. "What's your name?"  
  
"Pietro Maximoff." He zipped around the room once. "Call me Quicksilver."  
  
"Lance Alvers." The ground shook. "Avalanche. And you?"  
  
"The Leviathan. I don't know my real name. They always called me Leelee."  
  
"Nice to meet you. Hungry?" Pietro ran to the kitchen and was back faster than she could blink. "Here, Krispy Kreme donuts. Three days old. Sorry, all's we've got. You want good food, go join the Do-Gooders Foundation."  
  
"You mean the X-Men," Leelee said through a mouthful of stale donut. "Hell no."  
  
Pietro exchanged a quick glance with Lance. "Are Freddy and Todd gonna be back soon?"  
  
Lance shrugged. "I dunno. They went with Wanda to try and get us back into school."  
  
"Fat chance of that."  
  
"You went to school?" Leelee interrupted.  
  
"Well, yeah, it's kind of illegal not to," Lance said, bemused. "Didn't you?"  
  
"No. I wasn't allowed to," Leelee mumbled. "Part of the experiment. Bastards."  
  
"Experiment?" Pietro sat on the table. "Where did you come from?"  
  
"I don't know. But I do know it's taken me a year to get here," she said calmly. "I can't read, so I had to rely on others to get here."  
  
"Sucks."  
  
"Yeah." She stared out the window. "I'm tired. I need to sleep."  
  
"Sure." Lance collected the empty bowl and donut box and Pietro found a spare pillow and blanket. "Sweet dreams." She shuddered.  
  
~~~  
  
You almost always pick the best times To drop the worst lines You almost made me cry again this time Another false alarm Red flashing lights Well this time I'm not going to watch myself die I think I made it a game to play your game And let myself cry I buried myself alive on the inside So I could shut you out And let you go away for a long time  
  
I guess it's ok I puked the day away I guess it's better you trapped yourself in your own way And if you want me back You're gonna have to ask Nicer than that  
  
~~~  
  
Okay, thank you very much! For those who don't know, I'm Rave, formerly known as Katra Winner. I'm trapped in Catholic boarding school without Internet access and as such am snailmailing these chapters to my dear sister Cathy, who's nice enough to post 'em under her name.  
  
Alright. I realize introducing two new characters right off the bat has got lots of people thinking about how they're probably going to be Mary Sues. I have one thing to say: relax. I've been writing fanfiction for four years now. I think I have a slight idea about what I'm doing. Fret not. I like my characters 3-dimensional.  
  
The song is Buried Myself Alive, by The Used. It's on their first album, self-titled. Check it out. It's good.  
  
Review!  
  
Always, Rave. 


End file.
